David S. Goyer, the writer of Batman Begins and this summer’s Man of Steel, recently sat down with Co.Create’s Ari Karpel to talk about his new project, the TV series Da Vinci’s Demons, and he also took the time to talk about Man of Steel.
Among the subjects they discussed was the idea of how the fans have a special ownership with the character of Superman and the challenge of adopting him for the modern world.
“In the case of Superman, many people have possessory feelings about him but then there have been a lot of different iterations. It’s no small thing to say you’re going to do Superman; but which Superman? Which era are you going to adhere to? Which elements are you going to adhere to?…….We’re in the same place we were at with Batman Begins. If you think about Batman Begins, there had been these previous iterations of Batman, the TV show, the Burton films. We were trying to do something that’s different. We were going against the tide. The public perception of Superman comes largely from the Donner films. Superman’s been preserved in amber since something like 37 years ago, and for the general public, he hasn’t really shifted since. Anytime you do something different, shake up the orthodoxy, you risk offending people. Superman has been reinterpreted many times over the decades, and if he is going to remain a vibrant myth, he needs to continue to be reinterpreted. Hopefully, that’s what we’ve done and people will embrace it.”
It’s hard to dispute the fact that David S. Goyer makes about how the general public perceives Superman. Despite having a much greater range of possibilities in the comics, the character is still defined by the Richard Donner versions of Superman. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, the Donner movies worked best back when they were made. The culture of the country has shifted dramatically since we first believed a man can fly, so it only makes sense that they have to change some details to appeal to our modern audiences. Certainly, there will be some people who are offended at the change, but Goyer makes a great point. Superman has been re-interpreted time and time again, and he will be re-interpreted again in the future.
Source: Fast Co.Create